Picking and Choosing Your Clients

Let me ask you this. If you were going to go get a service done, right, such as, like, a tattoo, or maybe you're even going to the doctor, or you're going to, like, a heart surgeon, let's say. Would you want that person to be passionate about what they were doing? Would you want that person to be passionate about you, and would you want them to be, like, really, like, have good vibes with you, right?

Would you want them to get along with you naturally as a human being? For me personally, very much so, right? I want them to be passionate about doing surgery on my heart or passionate about the type of work that they're tattooing on my body because I know that they're more likely to do a better job, right? If you, as a hairstylist, are doing services that you love on people that you love, then you know damn well you are able to show up with your 100% creativity, 100% passion and joy for that person, therefore serving them better and serving yourself better, right?

So today, we're gonna be talking about picking and choosing your clients. Let me guess, you are a hustling, bustling hairstylist behind the chair, working so hard to build a beautiful career for yourself, one that gives you time, freedom, and energy to spend with yourself, your family, and your friends. But you feel like you're always working in your business, even when you're not behind the chair. My name's Hunter Donia, and I help you automate your systems and implement really beautiful strategies so you can grow your business without the overwhelm.

And this is the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Now, a lot of people will probably tell you that picking and choosing your clients is not the thing that you're allowed to do, right, in the industry. Like, that's, like, a big no-no. That's, like, what we have never been used to before.

And, um, you know, we, we shouldn't do that. We're service providers. The customer's always right. Friend, I'm here to tell you that that is not a good long-term strategy, and I think that you are really capping yourself of what is possible for you as a beauty professional if you have that type of mindset.

And I think that you're not serving somebody to the standard that they deserve if there's somebody else, uh, out there in your area, another salon, another beauty professional, who you believe could serve that person better than you could, right? Because when you have clients in which you feel as if, um, they aren't really, like, in your ideal client range, or they're not getting the services that you love to do, when you have that person, they are going to feel that you're not as passionate. They are not going to be as happy and elated with you as somebody who would be the services that you love doing and would be the type of person that you love working with, right? So therefore, that person who, you know, is not really sup- you're not super happy about, you're not, you're not showing up and freaking so excited to see them, right?

That person is gonna feel that in their soul. They're going to feel it from you, and they are always going to be on the market for another hairstylist anyway. It's not building a successful long-term relationship with a client. It's building just you getting some short-term income, where you're filling a space in your book that could be s- filled with somebody who you could build a long-term, very great return on your investment relationship with, right?

Uh, a relationship where when you, when you raise your prices, and when you start to specialize and niche down even more, that they are down and along the road with you. And you don't have to make these crazy transitions. You don't have to let go of a person because you're changing your business model. They respect your boundaries.

They respect your time because they are somebody who aligns with what you do, what you specialize in, and the business and environment that you've created for yourself and your clients, right? So, I think that it's really important that we consider the fact that when you are just taking on anybody and everybody, and you're miserable about it, that that's playing a very short-term game. If you're just doing that just for the money, then totally fine if you're happy about it. But if you're miserable, and if you're, you're getting resentful, and if you're not showing up to your business, like, with 100%, because that's what we have to do to make sure that we're serving people properly, then we need to make a difference, friend.

We need to be a little bit more picky and choosy about who's coming up in our gig, who's coming up into our business, who we're allowing to enter our energy bubbles, who we're allowing to take money from, to take energy from, and to reciprocate that energy, right? To fulfill on the promise of delivering an excellent service, okay? So, the key is, I wanna ask you, are you passionate about the work that you're doing or the people that you're doing it on right now? Can you think about, like, all of your clients from a high level perspective?

Like, are you super passionate about the work that you're doing right now? Are you excited going into work? I mean, yes, work is work, right? But you are, are you excited about the people that you see on your, on your, uh, on your book, on your calendar?

Are you excited about the services that are booked on your calendar? 'Cause if not, we gotta make a change. We gotta make a difference. And honey, it is possible for you to make that change and to make that difference.

It just takes having some really strong boundaries, systems, and good marketing, okay?So, in today's episode, we're gonna be going over the benefits of picking and choosing your clientele, how you should know whether or not you should approve or deny someone, and how to actually make picking and choosing your clients work for your business, right? How to actually, like, set up a process, a vetting/screening process, right, where you're able to know what you're getting yourself into when you're accepting a new client into your business, okay? So, I already went over, like, the why, right?

The, the, you're playing a short-term game by accepting any and all clients into your business, and you're sacrifi- sacrificing your joy, right, that you're bringing home to yourself, your family, and your friends by going to work and doing services and working on people who are draining your energy and who you're resentful of working with. That affects you in all ways, shapes, and forms, and nobody wins at the end of the day because you're miserable , your client isn't getting an amazing, absolutely fantastic, s- passionate service, and you go home and you're exhausted and you can't give the energy that your family, yourself, and your friends deserve from you, the energy that you deserve for yourself, the joy and passion that you got into this industry to gain, right? So, that's why it's really important. So, you're doing a disservice to that person because you're not showing up 100%, and you're also doing a disservice to the people who are trying to get into your book who can't get in at a relevant time/a convenient time or a soon enough time, or they can't even reschedule with you because you're booked with all of these people who you're not even passionate about working with, all of these people who are gonna eventually probably leave you anyway because they're not within your specialty or the, or the thing that brings you the most joy, the thing that you can show up with your 100%.

So, you're do... Uh, literally, everyone loses. Everyone loses when you're posting all and any pictures of all of your work all over your Instagram. Like, no matter what kind of service it was, you're just posting it because you did it and you're just, like, you know, just playing the Instagram game, and if you're posting, then you're good to go.

Because what's gonna happen is somebody who really wants what you offer, what you specialize in, what you're good at, what you're passionate about, when they go onto your Instagram and they scroll through and they don't see pictures, a, a mass amount of pictures of what they want and what you specialize in, they're gonna assume that you're just a jack of all trades and they're gonna keep looking for somebody who is showing that they specialize in what they are looking for. People wanna see themselves in your chair. People wanna make sure that you are the expert of what you got going on. So, accepting any service, any human being into your business is harmful for your business, okay?

So, that's the tea on that, and if that's not enough a reason for you, okay, then I don't know what is. However, I will say, you may not even know what you specialize in yet. You may not even know what brings you passion and joy yet if you're first starting out in the industry, right? And I think that there, there has to be a little bit of a trial period for you.

I think that you definitely have to experiment a little bit and be open-minded and always get ongoing education that maybe is outside of your specialty because you don't know what you don't know, and things change in this world and in this industry very quickly. So, I'm not saying that, you know, you have to choose one thing right now and that you have to stick to it forever. You just need to make a decision for where you're at in your business and what you're attracting and what the state of the world is right now, what the state of most of your clientele is right now, and what brings you joy right now. You can always pivot your marketing.

You can always change who you're accepting into your business, what your application form looks like, which we're gonna talk about in a second. It can always change. But when you're... Especially when you're in the beginning of your career, you definitely should experiment a little bit, just a little bit, so that way you can get a really good feel for what your specialty is and what actually brings you joy, right?

So, if you feel as if you can truly serve your clients, right, truly serve your clients to the standard that they deserve and you're gonna get a return on your investment of your time, energy, and the, uh, supplies that you're paying for, right, for working on this person, especially the time. Like, think about it. Like, you're literally spending time, like, like, like, time in your life, in your business investing into this person, into the relationship, into the professional relationship that you're having with this person, you're investing that time. W- is the ROI worth it?

Is that space that that person is filling up, is that gonna be worth it for you in the long run, or are you just gonna become resentful, or are they gonna find somebody else who's gonna be way more passionate than you because you're not even passionate about doing them in the first place, right? Because that's, those are the questions that you need to ask yourself when it comes to, "Should I accept this person into my business? Should I still work with this person?" And, uh, uh, uh, what you're setting up with what your standards are for who you love and w- who, what you're passionate about and who you're working on, right?

So, if you feel like that investment is worth it, then do it. Keep those people. If you feel like this is a long-term, uh, game and these people are gonna be people who bring you joy, love, and energy, and passion, and you can show up and you can serve them well, keep them on. But if not, don't do itDon't do it.

It is not a good long-term strategy, okay? So, how can we actually be picky and choosey about who we're accepting into our business, right? Especially if you're no- you're just letting anybody go in your online booking link, you're letting anybody text you, call you, whatever it may be. How are we supposed to vet the people who are coming into our business to make sure that they are, are a, um, are an ideal client/an ideal service?

Well, number one, if we're talking services, take the services off your Instagram, off of your service menu on your website, um, make sure that all of your branding and your marketing and your funnel on your website is all geared towards the specialty that you're trying to get, right? The specialty that, the service that brings you joy, the specialty that, uh, you wanna work with on your day-to-day, right? And then make sure that you have some sort of application process. So, in Pre-Visit Pathway and in Modern Stylist Movement, my programs in which I teach you how to set up systems that automate your business and set really strong boundaries, we have a new client application.

And with that new client application, your client has to go through that application no matter what, and they cannot get your phone number, they cannot see your online schedule until they have filled out that application and you have approved them as a client. And you might be thinking that is gonna take you a long time, right? To make your form, to go through your form submissions, to have to send back an email ev- and write a new email every single time, to have to deny people, and all of those things. Friend, you can set this up with Jotform and make it super automated, and it- once you set it up, you never have to screw with it again and it's very simple and easy to edit if you need to.

So, having a digital form and removing all of your other things off of your website is the way to go. If you wanna set really strong boundaries, and if you wanna automate your business, and you wanna make sure that you are only accepting people who you put through the vetting process first, right? Like literally, I look at my new client application submissions and I click a button and it sends them the email with the instructions on what to do on the online booking, and then they book it and it's done. And it's literally, it takes me one second of clicking a button and reviewing their submissions for me to understand what they need to book for, if they're the right fit for me, and all of those good things.

So, think about it. What are some of those questions that you should be asking on that new client application form that are gonna give you the information that you need? Do you want them to upload before pictures, inspiration pictures? Do you wanna ask them what the density and length of their hair is?

Do you want to, uh, ask them what their previous, uh, experiences w- are with their stylists or, uh, salons? Do you want to ask them, uh, what their hair history has been, right? So, all of these questions are gonna give you the information that you need to know what they need to book for and what i- and if you're gonna deny or approve them at all, right? So, having that new client application process is the way to go and will make sure that you can, uh, vet people before they come in.

Now, let's talk about existing clients. So, let's say that you really wanna stop taking a s- a type of service. Let's stop, let's say that you wanna stop taking, uh, haircut-only guests, right? I came out with another episode the same exact time as this one called Firing Clients, and in that episode, I break down for you, uh, how to very professionally let go and break up with people So, I highly suggest that you check that one out, but in the meantime, here's the tea with that.

Here's the tea with removing services fr- with your existing clients. Number one, if you're removing, let's say, a haircut only, right? And you only wanna take color services, what you need to consider if you wanna keep some of those haircut-only clients is, does this person bring me absolute 100% joy? Is the service that I'm doing on them, am I able to show up creatively and passionately and, and carry that service out on them?

Am I doing that person a service by continuously keeping them on as haircut-only guests? And are they willing to pay the higher price that I'm gonna be raising that service to as they're grandfathered into it? Not grandfathered into the price, but grandfathered into the fact that they're allowed to still stay in your business and get that service with you, right? So, consider if you wanna keep some of those people, keep them 100%, but you better be charging accordingly, getting com- compensated properly for your time, and that person and that service better bring you some damn joy, and you better be able to show up with your 100%.

Now, if it's not the case, and if you're like, "Okay, we gotta get rid of all these, all these pixie cuts that I don't feel like doing anymore," right? If we have to do that, then you're gonna have to have a difficult conversation with your client/a very nice, well-written professional email just explaining to them that you're un- unfortunately no longer, with the way that your business is going, able to take on these types of services, and then give them a professional recommendation to salons or stylists in your area who specialize in the service that you aren't going to be carrying out anymore, right So, that is exactly how you can be picky and choosey about bringing in the clients that bring you joy. I do not want you to be afraid about doing this. I think it's very important that you play the long-term game and not the short-term game.

I think in the beginning of your career, it can be a little bit different, but once you start to establish yourself and once you start to get booked up and you have new client requests coming in, it's important to consider these things. And this is a whole other podcast episode, but your requests and your referrals will go up when you start niching down, when you start getting really specific about who is coming into your business and what you're putting in your marketing materials, okay? So, so much love to you. Um, if you loved this episode, if you got anything out of it, I want you to do me one favor.

I want you to leave me a quick little review or testimonial, whatever platform you're listening to this podcast on, and tell me one awesome thing that you took away from this podcast episode. And I want you to hang out with me on the Instagram, because I have plenty of resources for you over there about setting boundaries and building a career behind the chair where you are working less, doing more, setting boundaries, and living your best life, gaining time, freedom, and energy. So, I cannot wait to see you over there. Hang out with me.

Thank you for listening in. See you next time. Peace out, girl scout. Bye bye.

End of transcript. © 2022 Hunter Donia LLC.